Building relationships with suppliers is a necessity for any company with the aim of trading and doing business as seamlessly as possible. Suppliers, especially dedicated ones, are as essential a part of the funnel as any other. Their importance is often undervalued by businesses, wrongly assuming that their relationship with the supplier goes no further than negotiating prices and paying the invoices, but this assumption is naïve and short-sighted, and this is why.
Suppliers play a vital role in a company’s day to day processes and a lot can ride on them making good on their deliverables and agreements. If they are unreliable it can lead to a company’s downfall, and a good relationship ensures that you can go to your established point of contact quickly and iron out any issues that arise. Having an established, long-term team member on your supplier’s side whom you can communicate freely and honestly with will mean you won’t need to tip-toe around any complications, that whilst oftentimes might be unavoidable, are far easier to arbitrate when communication is strong. You’ll find the best performing merchants are very aware of this anyway, they’ll ensure communication is a strong point and have a robust system in place to make it as easy for you as possible. These are the companies you should aim to work with, these are the suppliers that will do everything they can to deliver what they’re supposed to and when they’re supposed to.
Your suppliers play as much of a role in driving revenue as you do, make no mistake, a company is only as good as its worst supplier. And, oftentimes, rapid growth can get in the way of making sure the companies you work with are the best ones for you. However quickly your business might be growing, the importance of establishing relationships with the right suppliers should never dwindle. Whether you’ve got one café or a continent-spanning construction company, your suppliers will always have more than a considerable effect on your bottom line and a good one knows that if your revenue increases, they’ll see the benefit too.
The better you know how a supplier is supposed to do business, the easier it is to tell when things aren’t going as they should, which is why long-term relationships are so beneficial. The age-old adage of familiarity breeding contempt is not one you should apply to your suppliers. The more familiar you are with their processes, the sooner you’ll be able to iron out the kinks before they lead to a bottleneck in workflow.
With all this in mind, it seems obvious that building trust and long-term relationships with suppliers should be something that all successful companies strive to do. Businesses have both risen and fallen based on who they source their wares, so keeping in their good graces will go a long way in ensuring your business’ prosperity.
But, like any good relationship, it takes two to make a thing go right, so ensure you treat your suppliers as the allies they are, and the best ones will give you the same back. Making synergy happen within your team is important, but bring that same attitude to the wholesalers, vendors, manufacturers and distributors you work alongside, and you will synergise the entire process.
Whilst it’s up to you to manage the relationships of those in your supply chain or your buyers, it’s up to us to offer you the ability to manage complex rebates quickly to improve buyer and supplier relationships and optimise profit margins.
We work with businesses to ensure their rebates are managed efficiently, allowing them more time to focus on building supplier relationships and innovating. Get in touch with e-bate today to find out how we can help you drive revenue and revolutionise your rebate process.
